Which President Never Married? No one know for sure why Buchanan never married; however, there are possible causes including: Buchanan's flirtatious nature A homosexual orientation Buchanan's Flirtatious Nature Some claim that Buchanan was a flirt and like the company of different women, making it difficult for him to maintain a steady relationship. Buchanan's Broken Heart Another possible cause for his decision to remain a bachelor could have been a broken heart. It was said that Buchanan was engaged to Ann Caroline Coleman who was the daughter of a well to do iron businessman. Although he was engaged to this young women, he rarely spent time with her because he was too busy with his political aspirations and law firm to court Miss Coleman properly. There were speculations that Buchanan only proposed to Coleman because of her prestigious background and was courting other women while engaged to her. When Coleman became aware through others that he may only be interested in her for status and money and his possible infidelity she confronted him, but he denied it. Coleman broke off the engagement after discovering that Buchanan visited the wife of a friend. Later Coleman would die of an overdose of the substance laudanum .

Upon hearing the news, Buchanan was said to be grief stricken and vowed never to marry because he only wanted to be with Coleman and no other woman would do. Buchanan's Homosexual Orientation There is speculation that President James Buchanan was homosexual , and this is the reason that he never married. Prior to his presidency Buchanan lived for 15 years with William Rufus King the Senator of Alabama. The closeness of the relationship was regarded as unusual during those times and Andrew Jackson even referred to the two as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.” The nieces of Buchanan and King burned all the letters that the two wrote each other, causing further speculation about Buchanan’s sexuality. Because Buchanan was single and chose not to marry, he had an adopted orphaned niece act as First Lady. Background on the Unmarried President There are several interesting facts about James Buchanan besides his martial status. He is the only President from the state of Pennsylvania. Buchanan is consistently rated as one of the worst presidents in American history because of his handling of the country prior to the beginning of the Civil War . Buchanan is known for having a say in the very infamous Dred Scott Decision .

This decision basically stated that Dred Scott, a black slave, was his master's propoerty and was not a citizen of the United States. This decision was a controversial ruling which was rendered shortly before the Civil War. Because President Buchanan wanted the Supreme Court to make the final decision about the issue of slavery in the states, many people felt he used the Supreme Court to indirectly achieve the his goal of maintaining slave owners rights. There were many people that were not particularly pleased with Buchanan as a president. In fact, the displeasure with the way in which he led the United States became such an issue that Buchanan had problems getting anything passed through Congress. It has even been noted that Buchanan vetoed a bill passed by Congress to create more colleges because he personally felt that, “there were already too many educated people.” James Buchanan | whitehouse.gov Air Force One James Buchanan James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States (1857-1861), served immediately prior to the American Civil War. He remains the only President to be elected from Pennsylvania and to remain a lifelong bachelor. Tall, stately, stiffly formal in the high stock he wore around his jowls, James Buchanan was the only President who never married.

Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan grasped inadequately the political realities of the time. Relying on constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, he failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored the South. Nor could he realize how sectionalism had realigned political parties: the Democrats split; the Whigs were destroyed, giving rise to the Republicans. Born into a well-to-do Pennsylvania family in 1791, Buchanan, a graduate of Dickinson College, was gifted as a debater and learned in the law. He was elected five times to the House of Representatives; then, after an interlude as Minister to Russia, served for a decade in the Senate. He became Polk's Secretary of State and Pierce's Minister to Great Britain. Service abroad helped to bring him the Democratic nomination in 1856 because it had exempted him from involvement in bitter domestic controversies. As President-elect, Buchanan thought the crisis would disappear if he maintained a sectional balance in his appointments and could persuade the people to accept constitutional law as the Supreme Court interpreted it. The Court was considering the legality of restricting slavery in the territories, and two justices hinted to Buchanan what the decision would be.

Thus, in his Inaugural the President referred to the territorial question as "happily, a matter of but little practical importance" since the Supreme Court was about to settle it "speedily and finally." Two days later Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Dred Scott decision, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to deprive persons of their property rights in slaves in the territories. Southerners were delighted, but the decision created a furor in the North. Buchanan decided to end the troubles in Kansas by urging the admission of the territory as a slave state. Although he directed his Presidential authority to this goal, he further angered the Republicans and alienated members of his own party. Kansas remained a territory. When Republicans won a plurality in the House in 1858, every significant bill they passed fell before southern votes in the Senate or a Presidential veto. The Federal Government reached a stalemate. Sectional strife rose to such a pitch in 1860 that the Democratic Party split into northern and southern wings, each nominating its own candidate for the Presidency. Consequently, when the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be elected even though his name appeared on no southern ballot.

Rather than accept a Republican administration, the southern "fire-eaters" advocated secession. President Buchanan, dismayed and hesitant, denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them. He hoped for compromise, but secessionist leaders did not want compromise. Then Buchanan took a more militant tack. As several Cabinet members resigned, he appointed northerners, and sent the Star of the West to carry reinforcements to Fort Sumter. On January 9, 1861, the vessel was far away. Buchanan reverted to a policy of inactivity that continued until he left office. In March 1861 he retired to his Pennsylvania home Wheatland--where he died seven years later--leaving his successor to resolve the frightful issue facing the Nation. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about James Buchanan 's niece who served as First Lady, Harriet Lane . Bachelor President - Was James Buchanan Gay By Tom Murse Updated March 09, 2016.

There has never been an openly gay president of the United States, but some historians have argued the first and only bachelor president , James Buchanan, may have had feelings for a member of the same sex. The nation's 15th president is the nation's only bachelor president. A lifelong bachelor, Buchanan had a very close relationship with William Rufus De Vane King, a diplomat who served as U.S. senator and the nation's 13th vice president. King was the only vice president to never have been married. Buchanan and King, in fact, lived together for more than two decades, although that was a relatively common practice in the 1800s. Buchanan the Bachelor President Historians who believe Buchanan and King were intimate often cite their contemporaries in Washington, who reportedly described King as being effeminate and called him "Miss Nancy" and Buchanan's "better half." They also cite letters written by Buchanan about the man described as his soulmate. After King left the United States to become the minister to France, Buchanan wrote to a friend: "I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me.

I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection." Also, King showed his own affection for Buchanan at his departure by writing to him: "I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation." Historians Claim Buchanan Was Gay James Loewen, a prominent American sociologist and historian, has been the most outspoken academic who claims Buchanan was the first gay president. "There can be no doubt that James Buchanan was gay, before, during, and after his four years in the White House," Loewen wrote in a 2012 essay. "Moreover, the nation knew it, too - he was not far into the closet.

Today, I know no historian who has studied the matter and thinks Buchanan was heterosexual." Loewen has argued that Buchanan's homosexuality is not often discussed in modern times because Americans do not want to believe society was more tolerant of gay relationships in the 19th Century than they are now. Loewen does not explain, however, how or why a gay Buchanan had been engaged to a woman long before he became president. The woman, Ann Coleman, died and the two never wed. Bachelor Presidential Candidate in 2016 The closest the nation has come to having a bachelor president after Buchanan was in the 2016 election , when Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina sought the party's presidential nomination. Graham's candidacy was shortlived, however. Had he been elected, however, he said he'd have a "rotating first lady." "Well, I've got a sister, she could play that role if necessary," Graham also joked. Barack Obama as First Gay President President Barack Obama has been described as being the first gay president, a symbolic label first used in a May 2012 Newsweek magazine headline.

The Democrat earned the label during his first term for his vocal support of gay marriage in May 2012 , making him the the first president in U.S. history to take such a position. Obama is married to Michelle Obama , and the couple has two daughters. Newsweek Cover Newsweek's editor, Tina Brown , explained the term and picture of Obama with a rainbow halo superimposed over his head this way: "If President Clinton was the ‘first black president’ then Obama earns every stripe in that ‘gaylo’ with last week’s gay marriage proclamation ," Brown told the online news site Politico. "Newsweek’s cover pays tribute to his newly ordained place in history." Andrew Sullivan, who wrote the Newsweek story, pointed out that the claim was not meant to be taken literally. "It's obviously a play on Clinton being the first black president. I am aware that James Buchanan (and maybe Abraham Lincoln ) have been in the Oval Office before," Sullivan wrote.

11 US Presidents Who Might've Been Gay - 11 Points 11 US Presidents Who Might've Been Gay written by Sam Greenspan Considering how much people love to speculate on who might and might not be gay -- I think it's replaced baseball and obesity as America's favorite pastime -- I was surprised I couldn't find a single list out about the potential closeted homosexuality of the U.S. presidents. So I'm stepping in to fill the void. A very tongue-in-cheek list (as you'll see from the ultra-speculative "evidence") of 11 U.S. presidents, ranked from least likely to most likely gay. Apologies to Elanor Roosevelt who would've made the cut if I really needed to fudge things... and also to Harry Truman, whose deploying of the Enola Gay was going to be my emergency 11th pick if I couldn't find anyone better. If The Globe says it, it must be true. Barack Obama. - I never thought it was a possibility until I saw the tabloid cover pictured to the right.

Although, honestly, if I opened that up in the grocery store checkout line, I probably would've been more drawn to the story about the "Rampaging Chimp Tragedy." That sounds nuts. Still, tabloid speculation and being one of the most pro-gay rights presidents ever isn't enough to push him any higher on the list than last. John F. Kennedy - We all know he took down more women than the math portion of the SAT (Kidding! I'm kidding! Stereotypes hurt!) -- which suggests he wasn't gay. That being said, a book called Jack and Lem dug deep into his lifelong friendship with a gay man named Lem Billings... and at least threw some iffiness into the mix. The author of the book, David Pitts, says he concluded JFK and Lem never got physically intimate with each other... but were definitely emotionally intimate. "I'm firmly convinced after working on this book that John Kennedy's sexual interests were in women. We don't need much evidence of that, the evidence is all over the place. But his strongest emotional attachments were to men, and principally, to Lem. We don't have a word for that, right?

Somebody who prefers the opposite gender for sexuality, and the same gender for deep, emotional attachments?" In other words, JFK subscribes to the Homer Simpson philosophy on gender -- Marge: "He prefers the company of men." Homer: "Who doesn't?" Martin Van Buren - Anytime a president is single when he's in office (which has barely happened), whispers start up. And, sure, Van Buren was single because his wife died of tuberculosis at age 35, a few years before he was elected. But he never remarried. So there's always been a mild murmur. But we're talking, like, a Ryan Seacrest murmur, not an Anderson Cooper murmur. No ex-president parties harder. Bill Clinton - I'm just saying: You find yourself involved in enough threesome, foursomes, ninesomes and dodecasomes and eventually you're going to cross swords with someone. Thomas Jefferson - There was a sarcastic New Yorker write-up of why Thomas Jefferson might've been gay last year. He says he used Toni Morrison standards (filling "every trope"). Me-ow.

Anyway, some highlights of that article include: He was America's first foodie, he imported fine exotic foods, but always stayed skinny... he obsessively decorated and chose furniture for Monticello... he never remarried after his wife died at age 39... he loved Paris... he seems to have dyed his hair... he had a lisp... and he loved birdwatching. Johnson and Jenkins together outside the Capitol. Lyndon Johnson - Many historians attribute a big portion of LBJ's political success to a man named Walter Jenkins, who served as his top and closest aide from 1939 (when Johnson was in Congress) until a month before the 1964 presidential election. Jenkins resigned in October of 1964 when he was caught with a young man in a YMCA bathroom. (I don't remember "presidential aide" being one of the Village People costumes, but they had enough guys come and go that it may've slipped in.) Since the man who was closest to LBJ for 25 years turned out to be gay on the down low (he had a wife and six kids; they separated a few years after the scandal) -- speculation surfaced that maybe there was something between Johnson and Jenkins.

His presidential opponent, Barry Goldwater, even had bumper stickers made that read "All the way with LBJ, but don't go near the YMCA." Dwight Eisenhower - If the past ten years have taught us anything, it's the louder a politician rallies against gay rights, the more likely he is to wind up getting caught singing "Glory, Glory Hole-allujah." (YES! YES! YES! Wordplay rules! Don't give me that look. I worked for like 20 minutes on a place to organically work in that pun.) In 1953, Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which classified gays and lesbians as potential national security threats and banned them from working for the government. Yet another repulsive part of the McCarthy era. And with that, Eisenhower fills my "the lady doth protest too much" slot on this list. George Washington - Historians say he always seemed to value his bonds with men -- whether during war or in politics -- than he did with his wife. Which leads directly to the speculation. It's widely believed his marriage to Martha was at least somewhat motivated by her money -- she was loaded from a previous husband.

And in a letter to a friend, he wrote that they didn't have "much fire between the sheets." They didn't have any children (possibly because he was sterile... OR POSSIBLY NOT). See, I'm just like Glenn Beck. I ask questions. Unbelievable mutton chops. Truly spectacular. Chester A. Arthur - People rarely talk about Chester A. Arthur's sexuality because people rarely talk about Chester A. Arthur. He is to presidents what Ray Jackson was to Michigan's Fab Five. But I researched every single president for this list -- and when people do get around to jawing on Chester A., the homosexual thing keeps popping up. It generally centers on three things. One: His gorgeous mutton chops. Two: His high-culture leanings (good food, good wine, fancy clothes, exceptional dance moves). And three: He was a very lazy president, so he must've been busy getting it on with dudes. Abraham Lincoln - There's a ton of talk about Lincoln's potential homosexuality. Most of it centers on his relationship with a man named Joshua Speed. Lincoln and Speed spent four years living together and sharing a small bed -- and therein lies the "silver bullet" of the speculation.

I'm not as sold on that. From what I can tell, that's what roommates did at the time because of financial, space, and even warmth considerations. I'm more swayed by Lincoln's horrible choice for a wife. Mary Todd wasn't attractive. She's believed to have had serious psychological problems. She beat him . He was miserable in the marriage. Could he have picked her because she came from a high-class, wealthy, connected family and that was his primary concern in a woman -- not the love/sex/"You complete me" nonsense? James Buchanan - So the speculation on the 10 presidents listed until now has been anywhere from syllogistic at best to flat-out jokes at worst. This one's a bit different. If any U.S. president is recognized as probably gay, it's Buchanan. Buchanan was the only president who was never married. He lived with a man -- Senator William Rufus King from Alabama -- for years. Andrew Jackson allegedly referred to them as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy". When King left for a trip to France, Buchanan told a friend: "I am now solitary and alone.

I have gone a-wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them." He was also recognized as being uptight and gossipy -- kind of like Mitchell on "Modern Family". And that's basically the entirety of the evidence. Is it semi-convincing? Sure. Is it enough to get him cast in the token slot on the "Real World", make him innately able to recite the entire screenplay of "Mean Girls", or ensure he knew what Missoni was before it led to stampedes at Target a few days ago? Let the debates rage on. This post was originally published on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM under the category News & Politics . Facebookery? 5 U.S. Presidents Who Were Never Fathers | Mic Copyright © Mic Network Inc. All rights reserved. One World Trade Center, 285 Fulton Street 83rd Floor, Suite G, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © Mic Network Inc. All rights reserved. 5 U.S.

Presidents Who Were Never Fathers PIN He has a wife, two kids, a noble steed, and looks just as good in a suit and tie as he does when he’s wearing the “Kiss the Chef” apron you bought him and holding a spatula. With the exception of the humongous house he lives in with the handful of bodyguards and surveillance cameras, this man is supposed to be the emblem of the All American Dad. His decisions at the workplace are dictated by the mind of a man rearing his career as his own child. His name is Mr. POTUS. And ever since President LBJ made the first presidential proclamation in 1966 to honor the third Sunday of June as a day to recognize fathers, Mr. POTUS is synonymous with fatherhood. In theory. While most U.S. presidents wound up having children, there are at least five presidents who never had any children. One can only romanticize the correlation between their presidency and their patriarchal status. Let us take a look back at five American presidents who may have never been offered a tie on the third Sunday of June: 1. George Washington Yes, you read correctly.

It is only well suited that the number one spot goes to the first POTUS. In 1759, Washington married a wealthy widow named Martha Dandridge Custis . However, due to his battle with small pox eight years prior, Washington became sterile. Regardless, Washington was said to be a great father to his two step children John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis; as well as to Mrs. Washington's grandchildren, Eleanor Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis. 2. James Polk James Polk is best known for using his political prowess to expand west in the spirit of Manifest Destiny. However, the eldest of ten siblings was not able to have children of his own. Polk grew up with several health complications. One of which was so excruciating that he needed to have his urinary stones removed in 1812. The anesthesia for surgery at the time was Brandy. Although the surgery was successful, it left him sterile. 3. Warren Harding From allegations of as many as four extra-marital affairs, to cronyism that placed his biggest campaign supporters, or the Ohio Gang, into one of the most controversial cabinets, Warren Harding often gets a bad rap.

The 29th POTUS was said to marry his wife, Florence Kling DeWolfe (and coincidentally the daughter of his political foe, Amos King) with reluctance. Despite 32 years of marriage, the couple never had any children. According to noted biographer and Historian Francis Russell, Harding’s marriage was always absent of “true love,” and he only married her due to her persistence. 4. James Buchanan Not only is the 15th POTUS one of four presidents to never have their own child, be he is also the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor, without a single first lady. In fact, journalist Gail Collins has even went as far as making the claim that the govern-your-own-self president may have been homosexual. The only First Lady candidate on Buchanan’s purview was Anne Caroline Coleman, of whom he was said to pursue for her money. Coleman eventually called off the marriage and died shortly after. In order to fill-in for the old time traditional perception of a First Lady, Buchanan had his orphaned, and eventually adopted, niece, Harriet Lane, act as the hostess of the White House. 5. Andrew Jackson Old Hickory is often recognized as being rough around the edge.

This POTUS’ affinity for dueling was perhaps reciprocated in the political realm, in that most of his decisions were awfully polarizing. Our seventh president is also one of five presidents to never have his own child. Jackson married his wife, Rachel Donelson Robards, twice, with their first marriage being deemed illegitimate since her divorce to her first husband was not yet completed. Despite not having children of their own, the two served as guardians for multiple children, including Jackson’s nephew, of whom they raised as their own. Like us on Facebook: How Many Presidents Have Been Divorced? How Many Presidents Have Been Divorced? By Stuart Fox | June 18, 2010 02:52pm ET MORE Despite many public and presumably even more numerous private instances of infidelity, presidential marriages have remained remarkably stable throughout history. America has only had one divorcee president, but two widower presidents moved on to second wives while in office. And one president never got married at all. Ronald Reagan was the only president who ever divorced his wife.

But he left that first marriage so early in life, and moved on to such a stable and functional second marriage, that the voters didn't care, said Michael Nelson, a professor of political science at Rhodes College and coauthor of The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 17762007 (CQ Press, 2007). Some presidents, like Franklin Roosevelt, faced the possibility of divorce after their wife discovered an affair , but kept the marriage together for the sake of their political career, Nelson said. A president, or someone who wants to be president, has every reason to do whatever it takes to keep his wife from divorcing him, Nelson told Life's Little Mysteries. The political price of divorce, where he was the guilty party, even today, would be significant. The Clintons displayed the political power of avoiding divorce, Nelson said. Had Hillary Clinton not stood by her husband after the public learned of his affair with Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton would have likely faced removal from office or forced resignation, Nelson said. However, that does not mean that every president has remained in the same marriage throughout their lives.

John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson both lost their wives during their presidency, and remarried during their term , Nelson said. Only one president, James Buchanan, remained a bachelor for his entire life, Nelson said. But he had a good reason for not marrying. James Buchanan was unmarried at the time he was in office, and is widely thought of to have been what we would today call gay, Nelson said. Presidential Election Facts - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Presidential Election Facts A+E Networks Introduction With more than two centuries’ worth of U.S. presidential elections, the historical ledger is filled with an array of facts. For example, when Barack Obama was named the 44th president, he was really only the 43rd president because Grover Cleveland is counted twice. And with Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution stating that a citizen has to be at least 35 years old to become president, John F. Kennedy came the closest to that limit by earning election at age 43. Learn about the only bachelor to be elected president, the four candidates to have won the popular vote and lost the election and more.

Google The 2000 election was not the first time a candidate won the popular vote but lost the election. It has happened four times in our nation’s history: In 1824 Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but got less than 50 percent of the electoral votes. John Quincy Adams became the next president when he was picked by the House of Representatives. In 1876 Samuel Tilden won the popular vote but lost the election when Rutherford B. Hayes got 185 electoral votes to Tilden’s 184. In 1888 Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the election when Benjamin Harrison got 233 electoral votes to Cleveland’s 168. In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George Bush. In the most highly contested election in modern history, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount of ballots, giving Bush the state’s 25 electoral votes for a total of 271 to Gore’s 255.

Grover Cleveland was elected president (1884) then lost his re-election campaign (1888) and came back again to win the presidency for a second time. (1892) Barack Obama is the nation’s 44rd president but in reality there have only been 43 presidents. Grover Cleveland is counted twice as our 22nd and 24th president because he was elected for two nonconsecutive terms. Only 12 U.S. Presidents have been elected to office for two terms and served those two terms. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to office four terms prior to the Twenty-second Amendment. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution has only three requirements for a president. (1) Must be at least 35 years old, (2) have lived in the United States at least 14 years, and (3) be a natural-born citizen. John Kennedy is the youngest elected U.S. President at 43. Ronald Reagan is the oldest elected U.S. President at 73. (second term) The only President and Vice President to never be elected to the office was Gerald Ford .

He became vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and became president when Nixon resigned. The tallest U.S. President was Abraham Lincoln at 6’4″The shortest U.S. President was James Madison at 5’4″ Percent wise – the 1992 election was the biggest turnout since 1972 with 61.3 percent off the voter age population heading to the polls. James Buchanan is the only bachelor to be elected president. Eight presidents have died in office. William Henry Harrison (pneumonia) Franklin D. Roosevelt (cerebral hemorrhage) John F. Kennedy (assassin) Ronald Reagan is the only divorced man to be elected president. James Monroe received every electoral vote but one in the 1820 election. A New Hampshire delegate wanted George Washington to be the only president elected unanimously. The U.S. Marine band has played at every presidential inauguration since 1801. President John Tyler is believed to be the first to use “Hail to the Chief” as the official Presidential honors. President Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe but took his stepfather’s last name when his mother remarried.

He formally changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton when he was 15. Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for President in 1872. Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party ticket in 2016. Jeanette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress in 1916. John Mercer Langston became the first elected black politician in the United States in 1855 when he was elected Town Clerk in Brownhelm, Ohio . Twelve of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were 35 years or younger. Martin Van Buren was the first natural-born American to become president in 1837.

Each of the seven previous presidents were born as British subjects.Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution states; Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: “I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags James Buchanan | president of United States | Britannica.com president of United States Harry S. Truman James Buchanan, (born April 23, 1791, near Mercersburg, Pa., U.S.—died June 1, 1868, near Lancaster , Pa.), 15th president of the United States (1857–61), a moderate Democrat whose efforts to find a compromise in the conflict between the North and the South failed to avert the Civil War (1861–65).

(For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America .) James Buchanan, photograph by Mathew Brady. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. President James Buchanan (standing centre) and his cabinet. Library of Congress, Washington,D.C. Key events in the life of James Buchanan. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Origins and bachelorhood Buchanan was the son of James Buchanan and Elizabeth Speer, both of Scottish Presbyterian stock from the north of Ireland. His father had immigrated to the United States in 1783 and worked as a storekeeper. Buchanan was educated at Dickinson College in Carlisle , Pa., graduating in 1809, and studied law in Lancaster, Pa. He was admitted to the bar in 1812 and soon established a successful law practice. His gift for oratory led him to politics. Buchanan never married and remains the only bachelor president. In 1819, when he was 28 years old, he became engaged to Anne C. Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy Pennsylvania family. He broke off the engagement for an undisclosed reason, and shortly afterward Coleman died, possibly a suicide.

While Buchanan was senator, he shared lodgings with another bachelor, Sen. William R. King of Alabama, causing some tongues in Washington to wag, but, in conformity with the mores of the time, the relationship was not a public matter. When Buchanan became president, he made his 27-year-old niece, Harriet Lane , his hostess. Buchanan had served as her guardian, and he had overseen her education since she was 12 years old, when her mother, Buchanan’s sister, died. He took her to England with him when he was minister to Great Britain, where she became accustomed to being in the limelight. In the U.S. capital she was a popular figure, even dubbed the “Democratic Queen.” Early political career A Federalist , Buchanan served in the Pennsylvania legislature (1814–16) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1821–31). When his party disintegrated in the 1820s, Buchanan associated himself with the emerging Democratic Party . He served as U.S. minister to St. Petersburg (1831–33) for the Andrew Jackson administration, U.S.

senator (1834–45), and secretary of state (1845–49) in the cabinet of Pres. James K. Polk . The annexation of Texas and subsequent Mexican War took place during Buchanan’s tenure as secretary of state. Buchanan’s role in the war was limited, but he played a more active part in the border dispute with Britain over Oregon . Despite the 1844 campaign slogan of “Fifty-four forty or fight,” the matter was settled peaceably by treaty. In both situations the United States gained large tracts of territory. Buchanan had sought the nomination for president in 1844 but had ultimately thrown his support to Polk. Failing to receive the presidential nomination in 1848, Buchanan retired from public service until 1853, when he was appointed minister to Britain by Pres. Franklin Pierce . Britannica Stories Ringling Bros.

Folds Its Tent In Congress, Buchanan tended to side with the South, and, although he felt that slavery was morally wrong, he did not want the country to eliminate the institution by the “introduction of evils infinitely greater.” From his perspective, a greater evil would be freeing the slaves and making them the new masters, “abolishing slavery by the massacre of the high-minded, and the chivalrous race of men in the South.” He therefore tried to impress the Southern party leadership with his respect for the constitutional safeguards for the practice. Thus in 1846 he opposed the Wilmot Proviso , which would have prohibited the extension of slavery into the U.S. territories, and he supported the Compromise of 1850 , which attempted to maintain a balance of Senate seats between slave and free states. While in Europe as minister to Britain he played a large part in drafting the Ostend Manifesto (Oct. 18, 1854), a diplomatic report recommending that the United States acquire Cuba from Spain to forestall any possibility of a slave uprising there.

Buchanan’s support for the manifesto stemmed not only from his fear that such an uprising might have an inflammatory effect on slaves in the United States but also from his basic belief in American imperialism. “It is, beyond question,” he wrote to Congress in 1858, “the destiny of our race to spread themselves over the continent of North America , and this at no distant day.” James Buchanan. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942 Presidency Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Having thus consolidated his position in the South, Buchanan was nominated for president in 1856 and was elected, winning 174 electoral votes to 114 for the Republican John C. Frémont and 8 for Millard Fillmore , the American (Know-Nothing) Party candidate. During the campaign Republican speakers harped on Buchanan’s seemingly heartless statement that ten cents a day was adequate pay for a workingman.

They jeered him as “Ten-Cent Jimmy.” Although well endowed with legal knowledge and experienced in government, Buchanan lacked the soundness of judgment and conciliatory personality to undo the misperceptions the North and South had of one another and thereby to deal effectively with the slavery crisis. His strategy for the preservation of the Union consisted in the prevention of Northern antislavery agitation and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850). Embroiled in the explosive struggle in Kansas over the expansion of slavery (1854–59), he attempted to persuade Kansas voters to accept the unpopular Lecompton Constitution , which would have permitted slavery there. The economic panic of 1857 and the raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry , Va., in 1859 by the abolitionist John Brown added to the national turmoil. Buchanan’s position was further weakened by scandals over financial improprieties within his administration. At the 1860 Democratic National Convention, a split within the Democratic Party resulted in the advancement of two candidates for president, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Vice Pres. John C.

Breckinridge , which opened the way for the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. Results of the American presidential election, 1856.… Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union. By February 1861 seven Southern states had seceded. Buchanan denounced secession but admitted that he could find no means to stop it, maintaining that he had “no authority to decide what shall be the relation between the federal government and South Carolina.” His cabinet members began to resign, and stopgap measures were rejected by Congress. War was inevitable. The president refused to surrender any of the federal forts that he could hold, however, and he ordered reinforcements (January 1861) sent to Fort Sumter at Charleston , S.C. However, when the federal supply ship was fired upon by shore batteries, it turned back. The call for a second relief mission came too late for Buchanan to act. As the crisis deepened, he seemed impatient for his time in the White House to run out. James Buchanan, marble by Henry Dexter, c.

1859; in the Smithsonian American Art … Photograph by pohick2. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., bequest of Harriet Lane Johnston, 1906.9.4 Retirement USA Facts Upon leaving office (March 4), Buchanan retired to Wheatland, his home near Lancaster, Pa. His reputation suffered during his years in retirement. Congress, the Republican Party , President Lincoln, the U.S. military, and national newspapers all ridiculed his handling of the Fort Sumter crisis and his failure to prevent the secession of Southern states. The Senate even drafted a resolution to condemn Buchanan. In fact, to prevent the defacing of Buchanan’s portrait, it had to be removed from the Capitol rotunda. Buchanan vigorously defended his presidency and died confident in the belief that posterity would vindicate him and redeem his reputation. Wheatland, the home of James Buchanan, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The table provides a list of cabinet members in the administration of Pres. James Buchanan. Cabinet of President James Buchanan March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861 State

Question: Who is the only US President never to have married?
Answer: James Buchanan